SENTIMENTS OF THE SOUL
1944
November 14
To
dictate the feelings of my soul I have to do violence to myself. It
seems to me that I am dragged to the place of
martyrdom,
which really frightens me. May obedience command me: whatever it
cost, Jesus, accept this further sacrifice.
What
days of anguish I have passed! I cannot find Jesus or the heavenly
Mother, however repeatedly I call Them and search for Them. My
sufferings are varied. For hours my mind wanders through the air,
always among the most terrifying darkness, unable to find a place to
alight for a moment. My mind wants to rise, rise to heaven, but it
can’t see heaven, can’t find it: it no longer exists. Jesus is not
there or my heavenly Mother. They don’t hear the cry that calls
them, don’t see the cravings or the martyrdom of this poor spirit.
O my God, all is lost! O Jesus, what is so
much suffering for? There is no Heaven, or souls to save; everything
has ceased to exist. Oh Jesus, I am always Your victim! I trust in
your existence, trust in Heaven where You are, and where You wait
for me to love and delight in You. Sad hours, sad days of my life. O
holy will of my Jesus, I want you, I love you, I enclose you in an
eternal embrace! My agony is changing. Horrible hours of doleful
confusion. My soul dies. O horror, O horror, shuddering horror! My
God, how can this be? My soul died, all that belonged to me
died! Was it the miseries, the wickedness, the shameful crimes of my
poor body that caused its death. Without soul, without life, without
anything, how can I be here? Who does this pain, this agony belong
to? I do not know Jesus. Alas, what sad confusion; it is almost
despair! O Jesus, O Mother, what will become of me unless You come
to my aid? If You abandon me, who can help me? Blood of Jesus,
sorrows of my heavenly Mother, be my strength in this martyrdom; I
suffer it for your love, I suffer it for souls. I cannot accept the
death of my soul, I feel that I myself want to rebel against You. I
remember those condemned to hell: imagine this torture for all
eternity!
During the hours of the
night I am alert in continuous union with Jesus. His loves prisons
are my prisons. I am continually consumed with a craving to love
Him. Everything is in silence, and I with Him. You are not alone, my
love, I'm with You, I love You, I am wholly yours.
Like a burning lamp, I fix my gaze on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and
my dear heavenly Mother; I beg their
blessings, graces and love for me and for those I love, even for the
whole world: for I want everyone to love Them. Courage fails me: I
have no love, and whom shall I love? My misery frightens me. What
shame, what confusion! The weight of humiliation falls on me. My
soul feels the rumblings, the rumours of storms a long way off. I
walk with difficulty, frightened.
Thorns without number, a shower of them fall on me. My soul, heart
and all my body are torn, bathed in blood. I look back, I see the
past, all the paths I walked have disappeared. My God, what
destruction! Before me a frightful mountain; impossible, I cannot
climb it, I cannot even take a step back. Suddenly I feet myself
falling on my knees, my hands are clasped; my eyes are directed
heavenwards, I invoke the name of Jesus and my heavenly Mother. I
scream, I shout from the depths of my soul. My cry does not ascend.
It hides among the rocks of the mountain, is soaked up in my blood
and in my flesh, cut by the spines, to die there with me. The agony
of the soul increases, I can no longer cry. I am without any sense
of help forthcoming; I experience such grief, and my heart beats so
hard that it seems me that I am going to lose my life. Oh, it is
sweet, my Jesus, to die for You! Both to love You and to die. To
suffer, to suffer to give souls to You! The divine Holy Spirit,
during the hours of my greatest affliction, beats Its great white
wings like those of an eagle, creating for me a most gentle and
encouraging breeze. He injects His large beak into my heart to renew
and fortify it. In one these moments Jesus whispered to me very
intimately:
― I
am here, my daughter, in the paradise of your heart, in the nest of
my delights. Suffer gladly, because it is
for Me.
I was cheered a little,
though I fainted soon after. My Communions, despite the great effort
I make, are not what I desire, I don’t love as I want to love; I
cannot speak to Jesus. When from this side and that come new blows
to hurt me, when provocations come beating at my door again and
again, I fall down in a faint. Then I raise my eyes to Jesus and
tell Him:
— It is thus that I accept
and want what You wish. As I am weak, Jesus, have pity; my great
misery is worthy of compassion. I summon up the strength and take a
few steps forward.
The devil didn’t torment me
with his attacks, but with his lies and scandalous words. He came
close to me as if to assault me; he threatened:
— I
will destroy your body ― and he
adds many ugly things.
— You may sin as you wish
and whenever you wish.
Pretending to be delighted,
he claps his hands, dances and laughs.
― Look, so and so did not come back here, they left you; they
thought you were innocent but you are ... (and he says the worst
words to me).
Then, with renewed laughter,
he tells me:
— They were forbidden to
come here.
My Jesus, don’t leave me in
the hands of the father of lies! He is my enemy, but Yours too. I
need support, give me courage, do not let me sin. I am very poor,
give me your wealth; I am little blind girl, give me your light. I
belong to You, Jesus, and I belong to souls.
November 15
The attacks of the devil
returned. These past nights he came with all his anger and fury. He
tormented me greatly. What he made me feel in the body I shalln’t
say here. He told me:
― Look
at yourself, what a spouse of Jesus! Forget it! Tell Him that you
are not His spouse any longer. See how disgusted He is with you, He
does not want you.
With very ugly words he
named several people and told me it was with them I wanted to
sin. He wanted to instruct me in sin.
― I
will devour you in the night. I will destroy your body. You will be
able to live for pleasure as you live for love. To sin is much
better! I will lead you to pleasure.
Dancing and chuckling, he
told me:
― Look,
Fr Umberto and the doctor did not come back here: they were
forbidden to come here. ― And he
added ugly words.
The devil sometimes also
speaks the truth. I had a presentiment a few days ago that the Rev
Fr Umberto was forbidden to come here. The fight followed for a long
time. He made great commotion, stronger than a storm. He frightened
me. I was tired from the constant struggle. Whenever I could I
called Jesus and my heavenly Mother and said to Them:
— I do not want, do not want
to sin!
Jesus came on my aid. He
said:
― Be
gone, evil one, go to hell. Leave my victim, I am much pleased with
her reparation.
He fled terrified. From a
long way off he looked back, raging against Jesus. I was so sad! At
the beginning of my preparation for Communion, the thought of this
last fight came into my mind. I got frightened. Alas, how I can
receive my Jesus? Suddenly, I forgot everything: I could receive Him
and be fully united with Him. Hours later, seeing my family with
food that I liked so much, I felt an almost unbearable longing to
partake of the things I liked. I kept silence, said nothing and
offered to Jesus my sacrifice and my longing in order to make
reparation for those who only long for sin and feed on things that
offend Jesus. It was almost evening when I received news that made
me believe more in the feelings of my soul. My God, what a deep blow
in my heart! I was not told directly, but given to believe that Rev
Fr Umberto was forbidden to come near me. I said:
— Let the will of Our Lord be
done. Whatever God wants, blessed be my cross.
I was able to lift up my
hands so I prayed the Magnificat in gratitude.
— Oh my Jesus, accept this
one more thing I have to offer Thee.
I felt a strength in my
heart I can not explain. I wanted to sing hymns of praise and thanks
to Jesus. I prayed the evening prayer with enthusiasm and strength.
There were tears, lots of tears near me. I said a few words of
comfort with no profit. I saw near me an open grave for my sister,
it seemed to me that it had been I who had dug the land and opened
it for her. Jesus, it’s me who am burying my sister, but it is
unintentional. The heart then was bleeding in pain, but was bleeding
profoundly. O Jesus, O heavenly Mother, all for your love and for
souls. May I remain alone, everybody leaves me, but You do not leave
me. I trust, I trust!
November 16
O my God, how great are my
struggles with Satan. My doubts made me suffer so much and now he is
the cause of even more. He came at me with fury. What scary sounds
surrounded me. He used his hellish malice, and made out that I
laughed at sin and at the people complicit in it. I did not pay
attention to him. I called on Jesus when I could, I swore to Him
that I did not want to offend Him.
— To love Thee, to love
Thee, my Jesus, to hide myself in Thee, in Thee to disappear
forever; I'm your victim: to love Thee always, not to sin.
The weariness of the
struggle led me to the gates of death. And the devil, without
compassion, used his wickedness with increasing fury. So many things
I did not know, so many that had never for a moment entered my mind!
He throws everything in my face to
convince me that I am the most disgraced woman in the world.
Exhausted from so much struggling, I felt a pain in the heart as if
I had been stabbed. The heart, which had been palpitating with all
the distress, stopped beating; it was losing its life. I did not
see nor hear Jesus but I felt his divine presence in my soul. With
his full authority He signalled the devil to go away, and he fled
howling in despair. He does not manage to touch me when he uses his
tricks. Yet they are so great and so grave. My God! If the world
knew them it would not offend You so seriously. Once the fight
stopped, the doubts remained: I was trembling with fear lest I had
sinned.
A shock came over me. With a
foreboding that made me suffer I was anxious to see the Rev Abbot to
find out if he had been given orders not to come back to give me
Jesus. He arrived and said nothing, but the fear remains. Will it
yet come, my Jesus? They steal everything from me, only barely
leaving You. Will they also attempt to take You from me?
— Oh my God, I deserve
everything for my wickedness and misery. I am sure, my Jesus, I
trust that if they proceed to take You, You will give Yourself in
some other way; You know that I live only for You.
Rev Father came along with
the Mogofores family. It cost me a lot, new thorns hurt me seeing
that he who so well understands my soul didn’t come. I tried to hide
my pain with a smile. I spoke of my presentiments. They sought to
hide as much as they could. I understood everything. When they had
gone, I do not know how to tell of the pain I felt, the profundity
of the blow. I felt in myself some holy longing for the theft I had
suffered through men’s wickedness. I gave everything to Jesus and
asked for forgiveness and his divine Love for all. Will of my God,
oh, how I want you and love you! I felt stronger and so I could
continue to cover up with a smile the pain that was in the soul,
that ripped it apart.
My Jesus, all for Thee! You
suffer still more! |